


Save a Cat, Save the World

by gardnerhill



Category: The Faculty (1998)
Genre: Cats, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-24
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 15:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This began as my tribute to a C/Z fan on LJ, <b>julchen11</b>, detailing her rescue of an abused cat. Naturally, it grew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Warning: There's a cat in this story. I'll forgive anyone who backs out of this right now.

"I couldn't help it, Case. I mean, God knows what-all those fuckers did to him before he got away -- those are just the scars you can see." Zeke leaned forward, gesticulating so wildly with his cigarette that Casey had to lean back for a moment.

The marmalade tabby was starved-looking and bore evidence of more than one deep cut; not for the first time, Casey wondered if it had really been worth it to save his species if this was an example of their work. The human race might do the galaxy a bigger favor by dying off...

The cat gave Casey a level look and sauntered back to its hiding place under Zeke's bed. Casey blinked.

"Yeah. I saw that too." Zeke grinned. "That's what struck me about this guy too. He didn't tear away, didn't hiss, didn't flash claws. Just this cat version of 'fuck you.' He's so little and some bastards had hurt the crap out of him - but he's still ready to tear me a new one if I don't show him some goddamn respect. Oh, and I'd better feed him on time or else."

Casey found a smile stretching his face after all. "I can see why you fell for him."

Zeke gestured with the cigarette in a vague encompassing way. "It's a weakness of mine. Innat right, Case?"

Casey was about to reply when he realized that Zeke had been looking down at the scrawny, tough little cat when he'd used the name.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like so many WIPs, this one started as little mathoms to a fan-friend ([](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/profile)[ **julchen11**](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/)), who'd just rescued a horrifically-abused cat. She's a Zeke/Casey fan (The Faculty), so I wrote this storylet. Which seems to have acquired a title:


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kawaii Level: 5 out of 10 (cute as an adult rabbit)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another ficlet in the Zeke/Casey kitty stories, created to honor [](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/profile)[**julchen11**](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/)'s rescue of an abused cat. Unfortunately the details of the abuse are factual.

"He peed! Case peed! Look! Look!" Zeke couldn't have looked prouder of himself for cooking up a new mind-altering chemical than he did gesturing at a rank little puddle of cat-piss on his bedroom rug.

The two-legged Casey wrinkled his nose. "Dude, that's fucking nasty." And weird. Was Zeke turning into one of those wacked-out cat-people who gushed over every body fluid put out by their animals? Maybe he'd better wave some scat under his friend's nose, just to make sure that really was Zeke in there...

"Like hell it is! The vet told me Case might not ever pee on his own because of what those bastards did to him. Had to cut off his damn tail because of the damage."

Oh. Damn. Wow.

Case the younger stuck his his orange-and-white head out from under the bed. Casey swore there was a smirk on his namesake's face.

"He's gonna live to a ripe old age," Zeke said, grinning, "and he can help me stink up my lab all he wants."

"Dude," was all Casey could think to say. "Better stock up on Febreeze."


	3. SAVE A CAT, SAVE THE WORLD (3/?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was written as a birthday mathom to [](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://julchen11.livejournal.com/)**julchen11**.

"Zeke, your cat's looking at me." Casey gave a nervous stare to the tailless orange-and-white creature under the table who returned the stare with an air of unflappability.

"Case stares at everyone, Case." Zeke kept his own attention on the reaction in the beaker; he was trying to brew up a stronger version of scat, designed specifically as an anti-invasion weapon, just in case another ship showed up to find out why the E.T. Roanoake colony hadn't called in a while. "I think it's his way of keeping tabs on any potential threat. Smart guy."

Casey had held his namesake for a few minutes, but it had been a painful experience. If only the cat had merely clawed him... No, it had been feeling Case's ribs, still prominent even after two weeks of Zeke buying out Starkist; the still-tender tail stump; the scars under the fur. His own rage had nearly overwhelmed him as it never had even when the jocks had used his nutsack as a punching bag. "Think you're right. Just don't teach him how to handle a gun."

"Nah. Cats aren't into the gun-type of revenge. They are wizards," Zeke drawled, shifting the toothpick in his mouth (nothing like a few violent chemical reactions to induce one to avoid smoking in one's laboratory). "They are subtle and quick to anger, and yea verily shall they shit in thy shoes."

"Gross." Casey made a face and glared at the still-unflappable Case, who'd wandered out from under the table, still staring at him. "He's done that to you?"

"Yyyep." The toothpick dipped.

"After all you've done for him?"

"Hey, if you're expecting someone to beat you up anyway, wouldn't you rather bring it on than wait for the explosion?"

Casey blinked. He thought of the stuff he'd blurted right in the face of the worst bullies, to the Queen alien trying to eat him. That made...sense.

"So," Zeke said, still intent on the powdered mixture he weighed, "I kept not-hitting him for doing this crap...and he stopped doing it. He knew he was safe."

Only then did Casey notice the proof positive of that last line.

Case the cat still kept his level gaze on Casey. But for the first time that Casey could remember, this abused animal stood ... with his back to Zeke.  



	4. Save a Cat, Save the World (4/?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kawaii Rating: 6 out of 10 (baby-bunny cute)  
> Angst Rating: 300 millifrodos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This excerpt was written in response to some rough personal family news affecting Zeke/Casey listsib [](http://mews1945.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://mews1945.livejournal.com/)**mews1945**.

It was nothing. These days, it was nothing, right? Doctors take out appendixes in their sleep, practically. They've got antibiotics and morphine. People don't die of peritonitis these days.

Do they?

He sat in a lab that smelled of 30-weight motor oil and nitric acid, and the glass pipettes and beakers rattled gently on the table because his hands were on the table and he was shaking.

Oh, fuck, Zeke had been in so much pain. Not screaming out of his cell phone -- worse, the scraping whisper of someone who doesn't dare let all the pain out in his voice because walls will crack from the sound. "Case. My gut. C'mere. Fast. Oh God!"

Casey had almost wrapped the car around the stoplights on his way over. The ambulance was pulling up, thank God the idiot had actually called 911 first. He jumped out, staring in disbelief as Zeke was carried out on a stretcher; he heard "abdominal pain" from one of the paramedics, and he knew from his intimate experience with Zeke's skin that the guy had never had his appendix out.

"Zeke, I'm here!" Casey yelled, running up to the stretcher and glaring at the staying hands of the paras. Dammit, he needed a "I Saved The Fucking World, Let Me Pass" badge. "Zeke!"

Something muffled in the mask over Zeke's mouth and nose. The same whispered pain. But it sounded like "Case. Case." He didn't even look over at Casey as he was bundled into the ambulance, it was as if moving his eyes hurt him.

And Casey stood in the driveway, alone, his car still idling, watching the siren whoop its way out to the hospital.

Case. Case.

He huffed out a -- well, an exhalation, because it wasn't a laugh. Mom and Dad were still clearly out and away, doing whatever was more goddamn important than raising their son, and there was nobody else at the house.

And Zeke was no longer a free agent.

So now Case sat in the garage/laboratory, making beakers rattle and trying to calm his breathing.

Something warm and hard touched his leg, like a small orange thumping into his calf. It wasn't a rub; more like a head-butt.

Casey looked down at the small marmalade tabby, scarred and tailless, who regarded him with fearless green eyes.

Case.

"H-he'll be okay, little guy," Casey said, because his breathing and voice shook as hard as the rest of him. "He's like you -- too tough and smart to let the bastards win. He'll be back. And you've got me to feed you and do your litterbox while he's in the hospital. He knew who to call, didn't he?" He smiled. "So, no problem, right?"

Case eyed his less-furry namesake. Then he curled his bony little body around Casey's shin.

Casey stroked the cat's back with his fingertips, over and over. "He'll be okay," he said. "He'll be okay." And he kept saying it, even through sobs into the warm fur while he held the cat in his arms and the tiny, fierce survivor purred as hard as Casey shook.


	5. SAVE A CAT, SAVE THE WORLD, Part 5/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kawaii Rating: 7 of 10 (baby emperor penguin)  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left our heroes, Zeke had been whisked off in an ambulance and Casey was hugging a cat and crying. Let's join the story, already in progress...

"If you _ever_ scare me like that again," Casey said, glaring, "I will kill you, you fucker."

Zeke smiled like a Buddha. "I believe you. Don't mess with the hero man."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Casey still shook a little - all that stress bleeding out into the nasty plastic chair near Zeke's head - and all his dread for Zeke's life was now hammering itself into raw anger. "You could have died! Fuckin' bugs tried to eat the world and tear you in half and you won, but this stupid gut-ache almost killed you!"

"Told you," Zeke slurred, still beaming. "Thought it was a bad burrito. Pain, burping, puking."

"A hot belly," Casey added. "Jesus. You never had your fucking appendix out and you didn't even think of that."

"'M all right, Case. 'M okay. Really. Now we got matching scars and everything. All three of us. Except they didn't cut off my tail." Zeke tried to look behind himself.

"And why the fuck are you smiling!" Casey snapped, ignoring the comment.

Zeke beamed. "Morphine. 'S awesome. I'd be screaming right now otherwise."

Casey just glared - the look Zeke called the Gaze of Blue Death. It worked when nothing else got through Zeke's smartassery.

Zeke finally looked away. "Sorry, babe," he mumbled. "Sorry I scared you like that. Scared the shit outta me too, when I hit the floor yelling. Thought little Case would tear the place apart trying to get out when he heard the noise."

"He was under your lab table." Casey remembered holding the small, scarred cat and crying with fear. Even being hauled to the ambulance, Zeke had remembered to contact someone to take care of his charge.

"Case hid when I hit the floor. Called 911, then you. Hurt too much to yell then. Thought I was gonna split open at the gut and just die like that." Zeke was quiet for a long space; Casey said nothing, but angrily blotted his eyes with a sleeve. "And that's when Case came out of hiding and just kinda - lay there, next to me, purring his head off." Zeke blinked. "Never heard him purr before."

The way Case-the-cat had purred into Case-the-human's ears, so hard he'd made Casey's arms vibrate. "Did that to me too." Sniff. "I told Case you'd be okay."

"And you were right. You fed him?"

Casey nodded. "One of us had to eat." He made a face. "But he shit outside his box. It was gross."

"He was probably as scared as we were." Zeke looked at Casey, who seemed to have turned off the Blue-Ray Death Gaze and now just looked exhausted and sad. "C'mere, Case."

"Why?" Casey snapped.

"Because you need to lie down, and Mrs. Feeney is in the only other bed here." A loud snore issued from behind the curtain in the recovery room.

"Dude, we're in a fucking hospital! You just got your guts cut open!"

Zeke beamed the Buddha grin again at Casey's anger. "One-track mind, Case. And everyone thinks _I'm_ the big sex fiend in this relationship. I said 'lie down,' not 'fuck,' genius. C'mere." He patted the narrow strip of hospital bed between his side and the railing, near his trailing IV lines and beeping monitors.

Casey shook his head angrily. "It's too close, I'll hurt you."

"Morphine, baby. No pain." Zeke didn't have the Blue Eyes of Death, but he had a look or two from which Casey was not immune. "I need to hold you, baby. Lie with me."

The last of Casey's defenses fell. Zeke was alive. He was going to be okay. He was warm and the bed incredibly comfortable. When had he slept last? "Nurse'll throw me out," he mumbled, his lean little body fitting perfectly into the space next to Zeke.

"Throw out the hero boy who saved the fucking world?" Zeke kissed Casey's forehead. "Not a chance."

His only reply was a snore - a sound not unlike little-Case's purring.  



	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zeke talks to Case.

Hey, Case!

Looking good, my man. I see Big Casey's been feeding you all right - probably spoiling the shit out of you, cans of albacore or caviar or something. You'll mega-barf when you go back to the damn dry stuff.

Barf on Casey, he won't mind. Well, he's passed-out asleep in the bed right now, so he can't mind.

Know the feeling, dude - when my gut was on fire and I wished I could die and just stop hurting. Casey's gonna rip me a new one when the stitches come out.

...It was close, little guy. I was fucking scared.


End file.
